legat



April 1 1924. 1,488,938

G. ET PRENTICE ET AL BUCKLE Filed Feb. 1 1922 'F 1 Fly-" Patented Apr.1, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. PRENTIGE, OF BERLIN, AND ROBERT C. LEGAT, OF NEW BRITAIN,CONNECTICUT. i

BUCKLE.

8 Application filed February To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE E. PREN- TICE and ROBERT C. LEcA'r, citizensof the United States, residing, said PRENTIC-E at Berlin and said LEGATat New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in buckles, of the form used forbelt-s for mens wear, and the object of our improvement is to produce abuckle wherein the means pro-- vided for contacting with the belt andthat is actuated by the clamping lever has a relatively large areaopposed to and contacting therewith, whereby the buckle is particularlyadapted to be used with belts of rubber, as with such belts a localizedcontact, confined to a small surface, in many cases results in makingpermanent changes in the material and in marking the surface thereof.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a front elevation of ourimproved buckle, showing parts of the belt with which it is used.

Figure 2 is a rear elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the same. Figure 4 is a rear elevation of thebuckle only.

Figure 5 is a rear elevation of'the body in the position just previousto assembling the lever in place.

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, beingthrough the pintle bearings, the: clamping lever being shown in sideelevation.

Figure 7 is a plan view of the blank for the body or frame.

ur improved buckle comprises a body or frame 10 of uniqueform thatcomprises in one piece of sheet metal different parts that serve toefi'ect correspondingly different functions, as will be described, and aswinging lever 11 that cooperates therewith for the purpose of clampingthe movable or adjustable end portion 13 of the belt 14.

The fixed end 15 of the belt 14 is secured by clamping devices 16 to oneend of the lever 11. The other end 17 of said lever 11 is in the form ofa nose that operates to efiect the clamping of the belt end 13 in amanner to be described, and intermediate 1 1922. Serial No. 523,144.

said ends are the laterally directed supporting pintles l8. 1

The body 10 has a plate-like front wall 19 that is bordered at the topand bottom edges by the side walls 20 that project rearwardly and saidside Walls 20 have each a rearward extension 21 in the form of an earthat has a of the pintles 18.

The bearing nose 17- swings within the space between the bearing holes22 and the front wall 19 and in which space the belt end 13 to beclamped is housed.

Said bearing nose or contacting nose 17 does not bear directly upon thebelt end 13, as intermediate these parts is a contacting structure ofplate-like form that in the present instance is composed of two similarmembers 23 of plate-like form, positioned side by side longitudinallyalong the clamping space, and having the opposed edges 24 separated by aspace 25.

As shown, said members or contacting plates 23 are integral with thebody 10, being connected along a portion 26 of the rear free edge of theside wall 20, as shown, one on each side.

The blank for the frame 10 shows longitudinal slits 27 extending fromone end inwardly that meet in each case a curved slit 28 that determinesthe outline of the car 21. Said slits 27 and 28 serve to separate thefree end portion 29 of the contacting plate 23 from the adjacent portionof the body 10. The opposite end portion 30 f said contacting plate 23is connected to said bearing hole 22 for one body along the edge portion26, as described. a

The curved edge 28 that is provided by the slit 28 that forms the car 21provides a recess 31, along the outer border edge of the free endportion 29 of the contacting plate 23 that is useful in clamping arubber belt in particular and helps with any belt in effecting aclamping, as under pressure the material of the belt will be to acertain extent forced therein and will cooperate with the opposed edgesto resist tensile strain on the belt.

We claim as our invention l. A buckle comp-rising a body having aplate-like front wall and side Walls bordering opposite edges of saidfront wall, a clamping lever pivotally supported from said side walls,said lever being operative to press a belt end against said front Wall,and a pair of plate-like members'contacting on one face with said leverand adapted to make contact by the opposite face with said belt end,said members bein individually connected with said side Wal is '2. Abuckle as described in claim 1, said members and side Walls beingindividually connected by means of longitudinally directedcorner-junction structure, and said corner-junction structures beingspaced longitudinally from the clamping lever, Where by the portions ofsaid contacting members adjacent said lever Will be relatively free toflex and respond to the clamping movemen-ts of said lever.

3. A buckle as described in claim 1, the border edges of said membersbeing recessed so as to admit material of the belt under pressure.

4. In a buckle, a body of channel form, having a plate-like front Wallthat is bordered along opposite edges by side walls, a clamping leverpivotally supported from said side Walls, a plate-like belt contactingmember interposed between said lever and front Wall, and said memberbeing connected to said side Wall along a part of the longitudinallydirected rear edge of said side wall.

GEORGE E, PRENTIGE. RGBER T C. LEGAT.

